American Cinematographer - August 2014 - 10

This month's issue spotlights a pair of movie musicals whose makers put some new spin on a familiar genre.
Get on Up, shot by Stephen Goldblatt, ASC,
BSC, offers a non-linear look at the turbulent
personal history of dynamic performer James
Brown. Recounting the shoot for Jean Oppenheimer ("Funk Soul Brother," page 28), the cinematographer notes that the movie's approach is
"more a kaleidoscope of the life of James Brown
than an A-to-B biopic. The storyline jumps backand-forth in time, covering some 60 years, and the
photography reflects the changing periods."
The production was the first digital feature for
Goldblatt, whose imaging arsenal included the Arri
Alexa, Canon's C500 and an Ikegami EC-35. The
latter camera was used to lend a vintage look to a
sequence depicting Brown's 1971 concert at Olympia Hall in Paris; for this performance set
piece and others, the crew sought to replicate the look of period concert lighting. "We could
have done all sorts of rock-and-roll effects," acknowledges Goldblatt, "but we didn't because
they didn't exist back then."
On Jersey Boys, director Clint Eastwood also transitioned to the digital realm with the
help of Tom Stern, ASC, AFC. The pair detailed their approach for AC contributor and Eastwood biographer Michael Goldman ("Capturing All 4 Seasons," page 42). "Our goal was to
go down the list of everything that could screw us up, and make sure it didn't," says Stern.
"After all, no one wants to walk up to the Man with No Name and explain things like latency,
bandwidth and gigaflops!" The cinematographer reports that Eastwood, who has always
favored a fast pace on set, was exceptionally pleased with one aspect of the new workflow:
"Instead of flipping mags every eight minutes, we'd flip mags every 26 minutes, which for
Clint is like Christmas seven days a week!"
Santa is probably still making his list, but the indie feature Happy Christmas is already
here for those of you who need an advance dose of holiday mishegas. Cinematographer Ben
Richardson bucked the digital trend on his collaboration with pioneering "mumblecore" director Joe Swanberg, shooting the movie, which premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film
Festival, on Super 16mm. "Super 16mm was my first love, and we didn't know how much
longer we would have the option to shoot movies on film," Richardson tells Noah Kadner
("Shaking a Family's Foundation," page 66). "When film represents a substantial portion of a
tight budget, each take is precious. We got some magic moments because of that focus."
Four cinematographers - Checco Varese, ASC; Miroslaw Baszak; Gabriel Beristain,
ASC, BSC; and Colin Hoult - signed onto the FX Network series The Strain to help executive
producer Guillermo Del Toro realize his ambitious vision of a vampire plague in New York City.
"My hope is that if you're scanning your TV and you see this show, you'll say, 'Oh my God -
what is this?'" Varese tells AC's Canadian correspondent, Mark Dillon ("Bad Blood," page 54).
"This is a world that's about to end. The vampires are taking over, so nothing is pretty; everything is a bit gritty, sordid and disturbing."

10

Stephen Pizzello
Editor-in-Chief and Publisher

Photo by Owen Roizman, ASC.

Editor's Note
American Cinematographer - August 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - August 2014
